The Forgotten Women Prisoners of Haiti

Port au Prince (HIP) - Two days before the inauguration of Rene Preval, solidarity activists met with Annette Auguste for more then an hour and a half in the women's prison in Petion-Ville. Annette Auguste, AKA So Ann, has been held since May 10, 2004 and has been deemed a political prisoner by Amnesty International who finally took up her cause late last year.. During the visit she gave her view of political events and the electoral defeat of the political forces that ousted Aristide. She also reiterated that she would not accept a presidential pardon. She hoped that the new government would force a corrupt and politicized judiciary to give her a fair trial where the truth of her innocence canbe seen by the entire world.

As this feisty and resolute Grandmother continued her dialogue, HIP founding editor Kevin Pina used the opportunity to organize the prisoners of the Woman's Penitentiary in Petion-Ville to create a list with their names, date of incarceration and the place they were arrested. The vast majority of the women prisoners on this list have never seen a judge in violation of the Haitian Constitution. Most consider themselves political prisoners and were arrested by the Haitian police and/or the United Nations forces after they went to their neighborhoods in search of their fathers, brothers, husbands and boyfriends. Several said they believe their arrest was in lieu of the authorities finding their men folk and said it constituted a kidnapping.

This is only a partial list of the women prisoners held in Petion-Ville as time did not permit us to record everyone's information. HIP offers this partial list in hopes that international human rights organizations will take the initiative and muster up the courage to come to Haiti and complete it. The first job of real human rights work should be to identify the victims of political persecution. The second job should be to take the testimony of the victims to ascertain its validity. These women have lots to say if only anyone would listen.